We’ve heard the catchphrase, “Content is King” and I have professed it for years in terms of SEO, Social and Email Marketing. But, I continue to discover web pages filled with nonsense content that could easily be fixed if someone performed a content audit on the site and offered suggestions to help with the content marketing.
The Content Audit
The term “audit” can strike fear in the hearts of many. But, audits are needed to develop a core strategy for any business, whether it’s a financial audit or a content audit.
A content audit offers some fantastic possibilities for your website: Who are you speaking to? What’s the voice of your business? Is your website optimized for search? Do you have enough varying forms of content as in, photos, videos, text images, links? When you audit the content on your website, you are looking to make sure your strategy has been followed and make changes that ensure your business goals are met via your online presence.
How To Do a Content Audit
There is no right answer to how to perform a content audit. Each person organizes audits in their own way. But, there are specifics that need to be done. Either you can do it or have your Search Engine Optimization manager do it or have a content manager take a look.
They should start with an inventory; titles, headings, sub-headings, images, videos, who is in charge of what types of content, etc. Once the site is inventoried and people who are supposed to work on the different content are figured out, the next steps are the actual audit.
What is each page about?
Are the titles and tags and headings matching what needs to be focused on for the page? Does the content draw the reader in making sure it’s talking about the specifics of that page?
Is the page content accurate?
Often times, a lot has changed in a business during the course of a few months. People forget to update the website.
Are people taking action on the content?
Take a look at your Google Analytics and study each page. Are people clicking from the page on links? Are people even finding the page with the keywords you want them to be finding you for?
Is it professional and organized?
People won’t read or view your content if it has grammar mistakes or isn’t presented properly. Clean pages are the best pages.
Is it the proper voice?
You may have had different people writing different portions of the website. This isn’t a bad thing if each person understood the “voice of the business.” If you don’t have a “voice”, now is the time to determine it and get it used through all your marketing.
A content audit can be laborious but is necessary. Do you need help conducting a content audit for your site?
SynRG Marketing 